Episode 48: Self-Portrait with Dean Rader

This episode is a bit of a departure from my normal format. The original idea for having a part 2 with poet Dean Rader was simply to have continuation of the discussion we began back in episode 47. If you haven’t listened to that, I definitely recommend jumping back and catching up on his work.

Dean and I share an interest in engaging with socio-political themes in our creative work. In our previous conversation, we ended with the idea that we’d have a discussion about how we both make pieces with socio-political content. We are also curious about interdisciplinary work and how one practice brushes up against another. In that spirit, I sent Dean a number of links to some pieces of mine. As it turns out, he had a lot of questions and... I had some long answers. The conversation we then had ended up being mostly about my work. I so rarely talk about my own work on the podcast, so it was great to have the opportunity. I want to say a special thanks, again, to Dean for his interest in my work and the terrific conversation!

ABOUT DEAN RADER:Dean Rader has published widely in the fields of poetry, American Indian Studies, and visual culture. His poetry has garnered a number of awards and recognitions including the T.S. Eliot Poetry Prize. His newest collection of poetry, Self-Portrait as Wikipedia Entry, was recently published by Copper Canyon Press. A native of Western Oklahoma, he is now based in San Francisco where he is professor of English at the University of San Francisco.